8/6/2019 GC 08-18 B1 Region
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Region he Gonzales Cannonhursday, August 18, 2011BKeep up with
all the
local news at
our web site:gonzalescannon.com
Soechting Motors, Inc.
In Business over 50 years
603 E. Kingsbury Street, Seguin, TX
830-303-4546
www.soechtingmotors.net
Authorized Sales & ServicePre-Owned Vehicles
Daily Rentals
Repair Body Shop
2011 GMC Acadia
Time runs out
on all of us
c f x pcARTISTS, Page B5
I have never let my schooling interfere with my educa-
tion. Mark Twain
Received a phone call rom a person rom my past re-cently.
It was a woman. Said she tracked me down by gettingmy cell
number rom a kinolk o mine. Reason or the call,she allowed, was
that the Class o 62 would be celebratingits 50th reunion next
year.Wanted to give me a headsup on making plans to bethere.
Tough we hadnt had anycontact or 49 years, in theshort
conversation, therewas little we bothered tocatch up on.
But her reminder o mytime in the halls o good olRosebud High
School didspark a chain reaction othoughts. Short circuiting
acouple o neurons in the gray matter. Pulsating a rhythm
that had me beating down a door that led me back into thehalcyon
days o my youth.
Let me regress. You see, the term teenager was coined inthe
1950s. And in the Fabulous Fiies, I was one o thoseteenagers. It
was also in this decade that my contempo-raries and our parents
were to be dubbed Te GenerationGap.
A Generation Gap, I eel, exists in how schools operatedthen and
how they are steered today.
Consider the start date. Back when I was young we heardthe rst
school bell o the year on the day aer Labor Day.School today begins
in mid-August.
And ootball, well, in my hey-day, no such thing as two-a-days.
Because Rosebud was a small arming community.Dened by cotton and
corn and watermelons and cattle.And when the call was sounded or
those coming out orootball, probably 15 to 16 o the 20 or so
players suitingup were arm-reared. And they were expected to do
chores
and work the elds til sunset.So a practice session wasnt set
until 8 p.m. Under lights.
On a eld that was apt to have more grass burrs than com-mon
Bermuda.
Fellow with the whistle around his neck overseeinga sta o maybe
two other coaches was not only a headcoach. He also taught sixth
grade geography, seventh gradescience, reshmen history, and drivers
ed.
Multi-tasking in the teaching department was the normand not the
exception. As just about every teacher backthen taught multiple
subjects.
oday, there is an Athletic Director plus a dozen coachesor
practically every sport.
In my day, it was ootball, basketball, baseball and track.ennis
was secondary. Tere were no volleyball, soccer orsoball as
competitive sports.
Buses catered only to rural students. A ew students andteachers
did motor to school to park on the side streets.
oo limited to merit having a parking lot.ownies walked to school
and rushed home or lunch.And the parents at the time also shared
lasting mutual I
dos. Not those uncertain I dos o today. Te divorce ratewas low
back then and or a reason I wished I could explaina couple in
wedlock could work through their problems.So marriage was basically
or orever. Forever in manymarriages o today is about six
months.
I digress.Once I capped and gowned it and was graduated rom
RHS in 19 and 62, it didnt take a Falls County minuteor me to
realize that there was gonna be a lie aer highschool.
In the ensuing years I ound it hard to quantiy the edu-cation I
received there. Because the pragmatic approach Iembraced in living
and almost dying in the ensuing vedecades has been an education in
itsel.
I put little stock or truck in what that commencementspeaker
preached on a Friday night in late May o 62.
Such a pace, 12 years o public school education, well, Ijust
noodled through it the best I could.
In the interim, my classmates and I married and di-vorced.
Became parents and grandparents. Some o us en-joyed walking in high
cotton and some o us adapted tobudget dinners. Others would take a
little trip to a strangelittle country and a strange little war
Vietnam.
College and careers ollowed. As did trade labor andclerking.
Cancer would strike and take some o us. Car accidentsclaimed a
ew, too.
I suspect there are a ew success stories also. Its expectedin
any group, controlled or at random.
However, I can only comment on whats transpired in myown time
waltzing through this wonderul world. Troughthe good times and the
bad. I have been blessed. And whennot, I have only mysel to
blame.
Prompting me to possess enough sense to realizethat time is
indierent. Down the road, it runs out onall o us.
Scratch
Pad
Jm Cm fm -
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G C.
Jim Cunningham
Te message is clear: Beore youbuild a driveway in Gonzales
Countyyou better have a permit.
During a special called meetingMonday, the Gonzales County
Com-missioners Court discussed penal-ties or people who more
orwardwith driveway plans without goingthrough the proper
channels.
Tere is currently no such penaltyin the law books or Gonzales
County.
Harris County is the only one thathas all this written into
their statute,because they went beore the legisla-ture and got it
done, said GonzalesCounty Judge David Bird. Everyoneelse is on
their own.
He explained it would be a con-tempt o a court order to not do
adriveway permit as required by the
county.Gonzales County Attorney Paul
Watkins explained how the countycould use a show cause hearing
orthese cases.
Te court always has the author-
ity to enorce an order that you pass,and anyone who is in
violation o thatyou can issue a show cause order andhave them come
explain themselves,Watkins said. I they have a legallypermissible
excuse or why theydidnt do it, ne, but i not then youcan punish
them.
He said that the court would haveoptions on what to do i it is
deter-mined that they have violated the or-der.
Te penalty may be money, it maybe sel-help, we might remove it,
or tie itto the septic permit, Watkins said. Ourhope is that by
getting the word out wewont have anyone violating this. Your
permit is not so onerous that somebodyshould try to skip that,
because the con-sequences could be substantial.
He said he wants Gonzales County tobe a good place to do
business, but not tobe taken advantage o.
Te permits are to ensure culvertsand driveways are installed
correctly.Te county permits that and assists withinstalling
them.
Te property owner or drilling com-pany must come beore
commissionersand explain why they did not ollow ourrules.
Te court tabled a decision on thepenalty, while they examine
what pun-ishments other counties are applying to
violators.In other business, the court set two
dates or public hearings regardingthe 2011 tax rate, Aug. 29 and
Sept. 1.Te next scheduled Commissionersmeeting is Monday, Aug. 29
at 9 a.m.
County considers penalty for
non-permitted driveways
LULINGI you were in LulingTursday morning, you may have no-ticed
some ashing lights and commo-
tion around the railroad tracks.According to the Colorado
County
Sheris Ofce (CCSO), authoritieswere searching or a sexual
assault sus-pect who was possibly hiding out on acargo train
running through town.
He (the suspect) wasnt on thetrain, but we wanted to make sure
andcheck it anyway, said Lt. roy Neisnero the CCSO.
DPS and ve ofcers rom theLuling Police Department respondedto
the call and assisted in the search.
Neisner said the reported assault oc-curred Tursday morning
outside oWeimar. Details about the case and adescription o the
suspect are not be-ing released at this time.
By NIKKI MAXWELL
[email protected]
By NIKKI MAXWELL
[email protected]
On Track Arts Where quality
art meets handpicked vintagePay attention, you might miss it
i
you arent looking. But dont be ooledby the aged wood, pealed
paint andweathered roo. Tere is new lie in-side the big, red two
story building indowntown Harwood.
Te building is home to a new retailstore On rack Arts, a
combina-tion o Windall Designs and ShipleyStained Glass Studio.
Artists and busi-ness partners, Hal Shipley and JanMeeks have taken
their passion ortheir art and combined it with theirlove o antiques
to create a unique
store with something or everyone.Te retail location allows them
toshowcase their stained glass, costume
jewelry, chimes and other handmadeart, while also selling
hundreds otheir handpicked vintage treasures.
Hal and I have reached the pointo opening our doors or our rst
siopening, Meeks said. Tis will allow
us the opportunity to gain importanteedback rom riends,
neighbors andcustomers beore the grand openingthis Fall.
She said in the beginning Onrack will be open only one or
two
weekends per month, to allow themvaluable studio time.
T B R B
Te home or On rack Arts wasbuilt in the 1920s. Trough the
yearsit has hosted many dierent busi-nesses, including a ancy candy
store,general merchandise, and hardwarestore downstairs, while
upstairs wasthe Leaky Roo Dance Hall and evena roller rink.
A pair o roller skates hanging in-side the entryway pay tribute
to thebuildings legacy. Meeks and Shipleysaid they are committed to
saving thebuilding and embracing its past.
Weve enjoyed learning moreabout the buildings history, and
themore we discover about it, the morewe realize this is where we
are meantto be, Meeks said.
Te couple moved out o Austinand bought a house in Harwood
tenyears ago. Tey have had their eyes
By NIKKI MAXWELL
[email protected]
w , Hal Shipley and Jan Meeks have combined their talents at the
new On Track Arts in Harwood. (Photo by Nikki
Maxwell)
